


Alone Again

by vidocqsociety



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-14
Updated: 2008-07-14
Packaged: 2017-11-10 06:04:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/463023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vidocqsociety/pseuds/vidocqsociety
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Right after Rose is taken away, the Doctor reflects on another friend who went to an alternate universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alone Again

He is in the big white room, staring at the space where his friend Rose once stood. And he is alone again.

She's blonde, like her. The second her. The first was brunette and calm and stubborn and wonderful. The second was bubbly and sunny, blonde hair streaming behind her as she scurried about, figuring things out. That's who Rose reminds him of: his best friend, the one who went off and became something amazing.

He wonders what became of her. She came back, this much he knows. Dragged back, he heard, for some reason unknown to him. He never asked. She never told. Whenever someone else brought it up, she would smile sadly, and he would quickly change the subject. She went back to school and recieved her doctorate in political science. They joked about that, calling each other "Doctor" over tea.

Then she went off to be president. He didn't see her much after that.

That's a lie. He _saw_ her everywhere, giving speeches and having debates. Proper ones. Not like with him, where she would get frustrated and wrinkle her nose at him. He would laugh, and then she would join him, the argument forgotten.

He spoke with her once, just once, before the war started. K-9 was playing Mozart as she complimented his new body. He told her ceremonial robes didn't suit her, and she agreed. She worried openly with him about deteriorating discussions with the Daleks. He told her that if anyone could negotiate a truce with the Daleks, it was her, and he meant that. She smiled at him. That was the last time he ever saw her smile.

Rose, she is so much like her. That big, excited grin warming her face. He misses his friend when he sees it, but it does him good. He wants Rose to smile all of the time.

When her first met Rose, there were Autons. She was scared, but she was calm. She shouted at his back as he ran off, just like she used to. She wasn't going to stand about and cry. She demanded answers, and she was going to get them. All while holding a plastic arm that moments ago tried to kill her.

Students. That was what she thought they were. "To get that many people dressed up and being silly, they've got to be students." It was clever. It was inspired, really. Such a simple explanation, and to come up with it that quickly. He liked her instantly.

She bantered. Asked questions. He told her to forget him and she tracked him down. She choked down tears and yelled at him when she thought her boyfriend was dead. And when he told her the entire planet was at risk, she swallowed her fear and her anger and she helped him. Swung out on a chain and saved the day.

He told her he could feel the turn of the Earth and she ran to him, eager to feel the same.

She helped him again when Daleks and Cybermen battled across Canary Wharf. She chose to stay with him, even though it meant giving up her family. She had wanted her father so badly, and she gave it up for him. And then she was taken away.

The big white space reminds him of when he left Romana. White all around, with just them for color. He opened the doors to the TARDIS. She leaned against the side, looking bemused. "What's the matter?"

"I'm not coming with you," she told him. He stared at her, incredulous.

"Into the TARDIS!" he shouted. "That's an order!" But it wasn't an order. It was a plea. _Don't leave me. Please. It'll hurt too much._

"No more orders, Doctor," she says with the smile he's going to miss so much. "Good-bye." And her mind was made up. "I've got to be my own Romana."

He's back in the present now. He presses his hand to the wall. Then his head. He can feel her doing the same. "The more you want it, the stronger it gets," he told Jackie. He wanted nothing more than to pull his friend back from her universe.

He just doesn't know which one he means anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at my LiveJournal (academyaward.livejournal.com) and on Teaspoon (http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=23805). Different screen names. All me. :)


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